Super Bowl LIX, Puppy and Rescue Bowls, ‘Creatures’ Comfort, Gloria Gaynor’s Survival Story

SUNDAY: Whether it’s the game, or the music (Kendrick Lamar at halftime, Jon Batiste with the National Anthem), or the avalanche of high-priced ads that draws you in, pro football’s main event is a ratings blockbuster. A rematch between 2023’s finalists, the Philadelphia Eagles and the looking-for-a-historic-threepeat Kansas City Chiefs, this year’s game in New Orleans features Tom Brady, the record-setting seven-time Super Bowl champ, in the broadcast booth as lead analyst alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, with Tom Rinaldi and Erin Andrews on the sidelines.

SUNDAY: The tussling may be less dramatic, but they’re a heck of a lot cuter, on the annual competition that serves as a platform to advocate for pet adoption. Among the celebrity participants: Dan Smyers from country duo Dan + Shay, bringing a rescue puppy from Wags & Walks Nashville to one of his concerts; and Chiefs defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi and girlfriend Nani, who visit the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City to visit pit bull mix Parsnip, who’s competing in the good-natured Bowl.

SUNDAY: What once was the Kitten Bowl has evolved into a romper room for kittens, dogs, and puppies, spotlighting the importance of shelter pet adoption. GAF teams with North Shore Animal League, the nation’s largest no-kill shelter, for a two-hour special hosted by animal activist Beth Stern​ with stories of animals rescued from natural disasters including the California wildfires, and the successful adoption of three of Animal League America’s most elderly felines, a reminder that you’re never too old—and neither are the pets—to make a home with each other.

SUNDAY: One of Sunday’s very few non-sports options is a new episode of a show any Puppy/Rescue Bowl enthusiast would love. It’s a pivotal hour for the occupants of the veterinary Skeldale House, when young vet trainee Richard Carmody (James Anthony-Rose) gets his final exam results, and with them, an exciting opportunity—but one that would take him away from the warmth and comfort of his newly found family. The awkward Carmody is also distracted by his crush on farm worker Doris (Caroline Menton), while his boss Siegfried (Samuel West) is intrigued by the worldly Miss Grantley (Juliet Aubrey), whose goats have a mysterious malady.

SATURDAY:Her survival song was an iconic disco anthem in the 1970s, but surviving a turbulent marriage to her manager Linwood Simon (Lance Gross) may have been Gloria Gaynor’s greatest triumph. Bravura belter and Tony winner Joaquina Kalukango stars as Gaynor in the biopic executive-produced by Robin Roberts, with rousing renditions of hits including the title song, “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “I Am What I Am.”

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• 26th Annual Super Bowl Soulful Celebration (Saturday, 8/7c, Fox): In a lead-up to the big game, an inspirational concert from New Orleans’ Mahalia Jackson Theater of Performing Arts celebrates Big Easy and gospel traditions with performances from The Isley Brothers, Yolanda Adams, Tori Kelly, Master P, Big Freedia, Trombone Shorty, the NFL Players Choir and more. Michael Strahan receives the Lifetime of Inspiration Award, with New Orleans Saints player Cameron Jordan honored with the Community Award and Los Angeles Rams player Jared Verse the Rising Star Award.
• Sisterhood, Inc. (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Rachael Leigh Cook is Megan, a corporate exec who decides to run her carefree sister Izzy’s (Daniella Monet) personal life like a business, but then she meets a dashing psych professor (Leonidas Gulaptis) who throws her own plans into disarray.
• Incredible Northern Vets (Saturday, 10/9c, National Geographic WILD): All creatures great and wild are fair game for the three indigenous vets working at clinics across three provinces in a new docu-reality series.
• 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): Peter Van Sant reports on the 1996 murder of 15-year-old Danielle “Danni” Houchins in Montana, where she was found face down in a swamp, the victim of foul play.
• Yellowstone to Yosemite with Kevin Costner (Saturday, streaming on Fox Nation): The Yellowstone star hosts and executive produces a three-part docuseries tracing the 1903 Yosemite expedition of Teddy Roosevelt and environmentalist John Muir, which led to the establishment of the National Park system.
• Miss Scarlet (Sunday, 8/7c, PBS): “There is no ‘we,’ Miss Scarlet,” insists gruff Detective Inspector Blake (Tom Durant-Pritchard), dismissing the ambitious and pioneering female private investigator (Kate Phillips) during their latest case, involving the murder of a popular operetta composer. But when Blake’s admiring young daughter Sophia (Ruby Siddle) asks her father whether Miss Scarlet is for real, he has to admit she is.
• The Floor (Sunday, approximately 10:30 pm/ET, Fox): A third season of the game show, hosted by Rob Lowe and played on a grid of lit-up squares, returns as the post-Super Bowl attraction.